Guy wyser pratte biography of william shakespeare

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Your current browser may not support copying via this button. Facebook LinkedIn Twitter. Introduction William Shakespeare b. How to Subscribe Oxford Bibliographies Online is available by subscription and perpetual access to institutions. Jump to Other Articles:. As a prominent member of the King's Men, the most celebrated theatrical company of his time, Shakespeare not only performed but also wrote many of the plays that defined the Renaissance era.

His ability to blend history, tragedy, and comedy has left a lasting imprint on both English literature and global theater. Shakespeare's innovations in storytelling, character development, and language have transformed the landscape of drama. By using blank verse and crafting intricate plots, he set new standards for narrative complexity and emotional depth.

His ability to write in various genres allowed him to appeal to diverse audiences, establishing a theatrical legacy that persists today. Plays such as "Hamlet," "Othello," and "A Midsummer Night's Dream" continue to be performed worldwide, adapted into countless films and productions. Through his enduring contributions, Shakespeare has cemented his status as one of history's greatest playwrights, whose works continue to resonate with and inspire generations.

In the later years of his life, William Shakespeare became increasingly focused on property investments in Stratford-upon-Avon. Following the death of his father in , he inherited the family home, and in , he bought approximately acres of land for a substantial sum. By , he had also acquired leases for real estate near Stratford that proved to be profitable, suggesting that Shakespeare was not only a gifted playwright but also a shrewd entrepreneur.

These ventures likely allowed him the leisure and financial security necessary to dedicate more of his time to writing, leading to some of his most acclaimed works. Tradition holds that Shakespeare died on April 23, , which interestingly falls on the same date as his birth. However, while church records confirm he was interred at Holy Trinity Church on April 25, the exact cause of his death remains uncertain, with speculation ranging from a sudden illness to other unforeseen health issues.

In his will, Shakespeare bequeathed the bulk of his estate to his eldest daughter, Susanna, while notably leaving his wife, Anne Hathaway, his "second-best bed. William Shakespeare married Anne Hathaway on November 28, , in Worcester, while she was already pregnant. The identities of the aristocratic young man and vexing woman continue to be a source of speculation.

Some sources describe Shakespeare as a founding member of the company, but whatever the case, he became central to its success. Initially, he was an actor and eventually devoted more and more time to writing. Records show that Shakespeare, who was also a company shareholder, had works published and sold as popular literature. They were printed in in quarto, an eight-page pamphlet-like book.

By the end of , Shakespeare had likely written 16 of his 37 plays and amassed some wealth. At this time, civil records show Shakespeare purchased one of the largest houses in Stratford, called New Place, for his family. However, Shakespeare expert and professor Sir Stanley Wells posits that the playwright might have spent more time at home in Stratford than previously believed, only commuting to London when he needed to for work.

Although the theater culture in 16 th century England was not greatly admired by people of high rank, some of the nobility were good patrons of the performing arts and friends of the actors. By , Shakespeare and several fellow actors built their own theater on the south bank of the Thames River, which they called the Globe Theater. Julius Caesar is thought to be the first production at the new open-air theater.

Owning the playhouse proved to be a financial boon for Shakespeare and the other investors. The company quickly rebuilt it, and it reopened the next year. In , Puritans outlawed all theaters, including the Globe, which was demolished two years later. Centuries passed until American actor Sam Wanamaker began working to resurrect the theater once more.

The third Globe Theater opened in , and today, more than 1. Some plays blur these lines, and over time, our interpretation of them has changed, too. However, Shakespeare was very innovative, adapting the traditional style to his own purposes and creating a freer flow of words. With only small degrees of variation, Shakespeare primarily used a metrical pattern consisting of lines of unrhymed iambic pentameter, or blank verse, to compose his plays.

At the same time, there are passages in all the plays that deviate from this and use forms of poetry or simple prose. Download our complete William Shakespeare Study Guide for free to explore the key themes and characters from three of his most important plays. Download Free Study Guide. Character in Othello , King Lear , and Macbeth present vivid impressions of human temperament that are timeless and universal.

Possibly the best known of these plays is Hamlet , which explores betrayal, retribution, incest, and moral failure. Shakespeare wrote comedies throughout his career, including his first play The Taming of the Shrew. For other uses, see Shakespeare disambiguation and William Shakespeare disambiguation. The Chandos portrait , likely depicting Shakespeare, c.

Stratford-upon-Avon , Warwickshire, England. Elizabethan Jacobean. Lord Chamberlain's Men King's Men. Anne Hathaway. John Shakespeare Mary Arden. Play comedy history tragedy. Poetry sonnet narrative poem epitaph. Main article: Life of William Shakespeare. London and theatrical career. Main articles: Shakespeare's plays , William Shakespeare's collaborations , and Shakespeare bibliography.

Further information: Chronology of Shakespeare's plays. Main article: Shakespeare in performance. Main article: Shakespeare's sonnets. Shall I compare thee to a summer's day? Thou art more lovely and more temperate Main article: Shakespeare's writing style. Main article: Shakespeare's influence. He was not of an age, but for all time. Main article: Shakespeare authorship question.

Main article: Religious views of William Shakespeare. Main article: Sexuality of William Shakespeare. Main article: Portraits of Shakespeare. He was baptised 26 April. Under the Gregorian calendar , adopted in Catholic countries in , Shakespeare died on 3 May. This motto is still used by Warwickshire County Council , in reference to Shakespeare.

In addition to presenting the town with a statue of Shakespeare, Garrick composed a doggerel verse, lampooned in the London newspapers, naming the banks of the Avon as the birthplace of the "matchless Bard". Rowse , the 20th-century Shakespeare scholar, was emphatic: "He died, as he had lived, a conforming member of the Church of England.

His will made that perfectly clear—in facts, puts it beyond dispute, for it uses the Protestant formula. Archived from the original on 8 February Retrieved 8 February Eliot Tradition and the Individual Talent. Archived from the original on 7 May Retrieved 7 May Poetry Foundation. Archived from the original on 6 January Retrieved 6 January The Oxford Handbook of the Georgian Theatre — Oxford University Press.

The New Yorker. Archived from the original on 3 February Retrieved 3 February Broadcast 18 May Archived from the original on 3 March Retrieved 29 November The Local Germany. Well, William Shakespeare was the greatest after all Archived from the original on 14 April Retrieved 2 September Guinness World Records. Beaumont and Fletcher.

Ben Jonson. Seventeenth Century. Henry Craik, ed. English Prose". Archived from the original on 20 July Retrieved 20 July May Metropolitan Museum of Art. Archived from the original on 10 September Retrieved 16 April CBS News. Archived from the original on 19 April The Guardian. Retrieved 15 April Ackroyd, Peter Shakespeare: The Biography.

London: Vintage. ISBN OCLC Adams, Joseph Quincy A Life of William Shakespeare. Boston: Houghton Mifflin. Baldwin, T. Urbana: University of Illinois Press. Archived from the original on 5 May Retrieved 5 May Barroll, Leeds Ithaca: Cornell University Press. Bate, Jonathan The Soul of the Age. London: Penguin. Bednarz, James P.

In Cheney, Patrick Gerard ed. The Cambridge Companion to Christopher Marlowe. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Bentley, G. Shakespeare: A Biographical Handbook. New Haven: Yale University Press. Berry, Ralph Changing Styles in Shakespeare. London: Routledge. Bevington, David Oxford: Blackwell. Bloom, Harold New York: Riverhead Books.

Shakespeare: The Invention of the Human. Heims, Neil ed. King Lear. Bloom's Shakespeare Through the Ages. Bloom's Literary Criticism. Boas, Frederick S. Shakspere and His Predecessors. The University series. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons. OL M. Bowers, Fredson On Editing Shakespeare and the Elizabethan Dramatists. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.

Boyce, Charles Dictionary of Shakespeare. Ware: Wordsworth. Bradbrook, M. Bradley, A. Brooke, Nicholas Bryant, John In Levine, Robert Steven ed. The Cambridge Companion to Herman Melville. Carlyle, Thomas London: James Fraser. Cercignani, Fausto Shakespeare's Works and Elizabethan Pronunciation. Oxford: Clarendon Press. Chambers, E.

The Elizabethan Stage. Shakespearean Gleanings. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Clemen, Wolfgang Shakespeare's Soliloquies. Translated by Scott-Stokes, Charity. Clemen, Wolfgang a. Shakespeare's Dramatic Art: Collected Essays. New York: Routledge. Clemen, Wolfgang b. Shakespeare's Imagery 2nd ed. Cooper, Tarnya Searching for Shakespeare. Craig, Leon Harold Toronto: University of Toronto Press.

Guy wyser pratte biography of william shakespeare

Cressy, David Education in Tudor and Stuart England. New York: St Martin's Press. Crystal, David The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Language. Dobson, Michael Dominik, Mark Shakespeare—Middleton Collaborations. Beaverton: Alioth Press. Dowden, Edward New York: D. Drakakis, John In Drakakis, John ed. Alternative Shakespeares.

New York: Methuen. Dryden, John Arnold, Thomas ed.